COMPLETE GAME WIN BY SOAR PUTS ARMADA INTO GOLD MEDAL GAME ON SATURDAY
Starting pitcher Noah Soar went the distance on the mound today to carry the Adelaide Armada to a decisive 6-1 win over the Swan Hills Aces of Western Australia, helping his team qualify for Saturday’s Gold Medal Game at the Australian Invitational Little League Championship Tournament being played this week in Redcliffe Queensland.
Adelaide will meet the Hunter Coast, who narrowly qualified following a close 4-3 extra innings win over Northern Melbourne. The Armada's only loss was to Hunter, a close 6-5 setback in the opening tournament game.
Soar was stoic, and threw a gutsy game, striking out seven, with no walks, and he shut out Swan Hills for most of the match.
“Noah (Soar) pitched brilliantly today, and he was backed up by some solid defence” said Armada Head Coach Karen Mentha following the win.
Adelaide opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when Hayden Mack singled to right, scoring Mandel Guo and advancing Ashton Mogg and Banjo Cannon on the bases. Lewis Bailey then drove in Mogg on a ground ball to the infield to make it 2-0 Adelaide.
Both teams went scoreless in the second, but in the bottom of the third the Armada opened things up with four runs when the Aces pitching gave up a series of walks, a stolen base, a batter hit by pitch, and a single to Alexandre Benjamin, putting the South Australians into a comfortable six run lead.
Surprisingly Adelaide only collected four safe hits during the game, but the Swan Hills pitching was shaky, serving up seven walks, two wild pitches, and a stolen base to Luka Tons, and that was enough for the Armada to manufacture the winning result.
The entire Armada lineup has contributed to getting the team to the championship and have showed plenty of character to win the last four games after losing the opener by one run to tomorrow's grand final opponents Hunter.
Soar also got help from his teammates solid defence, and the watchful eye and encouragement from his battery mate, and also Golden Grove Central Districts Dodgers teammate, catcher Jack Adams, who continued to work with Soar throughout the game, encouraging him between innings.
Soar had good control, throwing 75 pitches over six innings, 53 for strikes, fanning 7 batters, with no walks. The young hurler kept Swan Hills off the scoreboard until late in the game when they scored their only run in the fifth inning.
On the sidelines, Noah’s father was beaming. “What a performance, I’m extremely proud and happy for him”, said Darryl Soar, one of his sons’ coaches at the GGCD Baseball Club.
The Armada will meet the Hunter Coast in Saturday’s Gold Medal Game at 1:00pm (AEST).
ARMADA Hits (4) – Banjo Cannon -1B; Hayden Mack – 1B; Dylan Carter -1B; Alexandre Benjamin -1B.
RBIs – Banjo Cannon-1; Hayden Mack – 1; Mandel Guo -1; Ashton Mogg-1
ARMADA Pitching – Noah Soar – IP -6.0; Batters Faced – 25; Pitches/Strikes 75/53; 7Ks; 1R, 5H, WP-1
[PHOTOS courtesy of Celeste Adams, Naomi Pinyon, Baseball Australia]